A variety of systems can be used to control temperature within a given space. HVAC systems, for example, are used to control temperature and other environmental conditions within structures such as residences, office buildings, and manufacturing plants. By way of example, environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, air purity, air flow, enthalpy (combined value of temperature and humidity), and “fresh air” ventilation can be regulated to ensure that the interior environment of a structure is as desired for particular occupants and equipment housed in the structure, and for processes and procedures conducted within the structure. Similarly, refrigeration systems are used to maintain an interior space, such as a cold room for food storage, at a desired temperature to minimize bacteria growth or other detrimental effects to the contents stored in the space.
Conventional systems used to control temperature of a space are typically limited as to the type of parameters about which feedback is provided. Such systems may include various sensors for detecting parameters, such as temperature, in real time. The number of parameters about which data may be provided, therefore, is typically limited to those parameters that are capable of being directly measured or inferred from such measurements. The limited amount of feedback data, in turn, may limit or prevent the ability to perform certain processes, such as system diagnostics, or materially reduce the precision and accuracy of those processes.
In certain applications, the limited feedback provided by conventional systems may lead to inefficient operation or monitoring of those systems. A supermarket refrigeration system, for example, may have a cold room for storing goods at a controlled temperature. Food quality is of primary importance to the supermarket operation, and therefore the refrigeration system may be continuously monitored to maintain a desired food temperature. In some systems, an alarm may be triggered when the room temperature exceeds a threshold value. An engineer may review alarm conditions to try to determine the root cause of the alarm, such as detecting and diagnosing possible faults in the refrigeration system. Conventional monitoring systems typically use a manual process to determine root causes for alarm signals. For example, an engineer may call the store to determine whether warmer goods were recently brought into the cold room, thereby raising the air temperature of the cold room above the threshold value. Additionally or alternatively, the engineer may wait for a predetermined period of time to see if the air temperature returns to a safe level before determining whether the alarm is true or false. Such delay, however, may adversely affect food quality for an unnecessary period of time.
It would therefore be advantageous if an improved system for predicting cold room temperatures in an interior space is developed.